What a day. What an achievement. Let no-one underestimate just what’s happened here. As one of our rather less successful former managers would say: “It’s nae normal.”
Even for a grizzled old fan with a lot of miles on the clock like me, this is very, very special. It’s time to drink it all in, lap it all up, savour every single joyous moment. Times like this don’t come round very often.
I’ve sat in my seat in the front row of the upper tier of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand for 22 years, waiting and hoping that one day I would watch Premier League football from a very special vantage point.
Many times over the years, that dream has seemed utterly ridiculous. Several times during the dark Marcus Evans years I questioned the sanity of renewing. After all, there were lots of thrilling jobs I could be doing in the garden...
Saturday’s fantastic scenes were richly deserved reward for all Town supporters, veterans and newcomers alike. There’s been some nonsense on social media disrespecting newer fans. This is for all of us - whether we’re eight or 80.
It’s also brilliant for the wider community, for people in Suffolk who have no interest in football. Everyone will benefit. I saw one football finance expert predicting that it will generate £600 million for the local economy.
It will certainly bring in huge amounts of money, for the football club and for local businesses, especially pubs and restaurants. It looked like fans were doing their best to drink £600 million worth of beer on Saturday!
It also gives the town and the county a much higher profile. It’s already happening. Finally, the national media have woken up to our incredible story. We even featured on the BBC’s News At Ten on Friday night.
Next season, when we have taken our place among the footballing elite, we can look forward to featuring on Match of the Day each Saturday night, extensive coverage on Sky and, glory be, proper, extensive reports in the national papers.
Then there’s the boost to our self-confidence and sense of pride. This will be particularly welcome and important for Ipswich, a town which receives a load of largely undeserved and, frankly, ignorant criticism.
Kieran McKenna has received many thoroughly deserved plaudits, and quite rightly. What an incredible job that man has done.
Very few of us had heard of him when he joined from Man Utd., where apparently he was derided by some players as a “PE teacher.” I think that says rather more about the attitude of the underperforming Man Utd players than about our brilliant young manager.
McKenna, working with chief executive Mark Ashton and our American owners, has transformed our club, from a very average League One outfit to a team which has deservedly reached the promised land.
Without spending huge sums, he has brought about a transformation. Players who looked destined for humdrum lower league careers have improved beyond all recognition, and deserve their chance in the Premier League.
Credit to the players as well. They have been willing to work hard, to listen, to learn and are reaping their rewards. There’s a lesson there for entitled, complacent players elsewhere.
There were several chants mentioning our local rivals Norwich on Saturday. Frankly, I’m not sure why. That was our day, our special moment. Absolutely nothing to do with them.
But while we’re on the subject, several people have asked me if I want them to come up too. The answer is yes, definitely. The local derby adds a couple of special days in any season - and, you never know, we might actually beat them!
Some people are already worrying about next season. How many new players do we need? Is so-and-so good enough? Will we keep the loanees? As I said earlier, for now I think it’s simply time to celebrate. We’ve been waiting long enough, for goodness sake.
When the fixtures are published on June 18, I will start focusing on what lies ahead. For the next six weeks, I will simply savour our incredible, slightly unexpected but hugely exciting success. Well played, boys.
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